When Sprint said Thursday that it would raise its offer for Clearwire to $5 a share, topping Dish’s latest offer of $4.40 per share, it said it had already received commitments of support from a key group of Clearwire shareholders. They are led by Mount Kellett Capital Management, which argued in a letter to the company’s board last December that Clearwire was worth at least $6.30 per share. Agreeing to $5 suggests it doesn’t see another Dish counterbid in the works.

That is noteworthy, considering Dish has plenty of financial firepower to raise its offer after abandoning its pursuit of Sprint. The Mount Kellett group may have been swayed by a Delaware court’s negative take on Dish’s bid during a preliminary hearing Thursday on a suit Sprint filed against Dish and Clearwire. But there would theoretically be nothing to stop Dish from submitting a higher Clearwire offer, restructured to avoid legal impediments.

Unless…there is always a possibility that Dish may be thinking about a different deal with, say T-Mobile US or AT&T. There is no indication of any talks going on. But for Dish, which faces a declining TV business and needs to find a partner to use the wireless spectrum it has amassed, one of those carriers could present a lifeline.